Imagine driving through the desert in the
Middle East. It’s a warm day and the windows are rolled down. A breeze caresses
your face as the car bounces and slides along the sandy road. You’re in the
middle of an energetic conversation with five of your fellow terrorists,
plotting your next attack against Americans.

Suddenly your eye catches something in the distance. You’re not quite sure what
it is but it seems to be getting larger. And now in the last nano-seconds of
your life here on earth the awful realization descends over you but it’s too
late.

You’re… face-to-face… with… a… missile —
BLAM! — It’s all over.

I have no idea if this is the way the
scenario unfolded in Yemen last week when a Hellfire missile launched from a CIA
drone blew six al Qaeda members to smithereens as they were riding together in
their automobile. It might be they never knew what hit them. Only smoldering
debris and a few body parts were left after the explosion so there were no
possibilities for interviews.

In a slightly different vein, I wonder what
went through the minds of the 9/11 terrorists during the last seconds of their
lives as they flew jumbo jets into towers of glass and steel, the Pentagon or
the field in rural Pennsylvania. They had plenty of time to ponder what was
coming.

What force motivates an obsession for
martyrdom coupled with a desire to murder innocent men, women and children?
Radical Muslim fundamentalists would answer the will of Allah.

In the Christian religion, martyrdom is a
well-known concept. Many saints have gone on to their eternal reward, dying for
their beliefs at the hands of those who rejected their message and sought to
silence the messenger.

Living in America, where we are protected
by the First Amendment, we have a distorted view of martyrdom. It’s easy to
picture it in terms of first-century Christians being thrown to the lions in the
Roman Coliseum. But the martyrdom of Christians didn’t end with Rome’s demise.

In the 20th century alone, more Christians
died for their faith world-wide than in the previous 19 centuries combined.

These Christian fundamentalists —
extremists of a different sort — were driven by their convictions. They too were
obsessed, willing to pay the ultimate price with their lives for what they
believed.

So what’s the difference between Islamic
fundamentalists and Christian fundamentalists? It might be hard to discern if
your only sources for information are the newspapers. Earlier this year The New
York Times referred to Islamic radicals as “the religious right.”

The motivation for a Christian’s
willingness to give up his own life is the cause of Christ. But the means for
the furtherance of the Gospel has never been through violence or by force. Jesus
said “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his
friends.”

Since the war on terror began, there has
been no sharper contrast between the radical elements of Islam and the radical
elements of Christianity than that demonstrated by the heroes of United flight
93 and the monsters who hijacked the aircraft after they killed the crew by
dragging box cutters across their throats. Each group believed that the
situation called for the ultimate sacrifice. Yet one group was motivated by
hatred and the other by love.

While each claimed they were serving God, it is impossible that both were
correct.

Which brings us back to the desert in Yemen
and our six terrorists. When that Hellfire missile exploded, sending them into
kingdom come, it wasn’t really over.

They went out into eternity but, barring
any last second repentance, suddenly found themselves surrounded by a different
kind of hell fire.

And that will ultimately prove to be the
final and most effective weapon in the war against terrorism.

Gregory J. Rummo is a syndicated columnist and author of “The View from
the Grass Roots,” published in July, 2002 by American-Book. You may order an
autographed copy directly from the author below or from
Amazon.com You may e-mail the author at
GregoryJRummo@aol.com

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